


Within

by Bandity



Series: Within [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Illness, Langst, Mystery Illness, Near Drowning Experience, Non-Consensual Touching, discussion of curses, infections, surprisingly nobody pukes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 10:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11289039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: After visiting an unfriendly planet, Lance starts to feel like something is wrong with him... but it's definitely not a curse, right?





	Within

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my friend for the prompt, though I don't think this is where you thought I would take this. 
> 
> This took so long to read through. I'm so tired. I will come back for the mistakes. I need rest. 
> 
> Please note the non-consensual touch tag. It's not sexual and it's not a huge part of this. If you have no problem, then continue to the story, if you do have an issue, then let me explain a little. There are some medical things in here that happen and Lance isn't in the right head space to be a cooperative patient, so he is restrained in a way, but also there is a brief scene where Lance allows someone to hurt him slightly and I tagged it because Lance is in a bad place mentally when it happens. If you want to skip that part, stop reading at "Small hands were on his face suddenly" and start reading again at "There was a clicking that filled the air..." 
> 
> I'm probably being overly cautious, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

The castleship had needed some maintenance done that required it to land for a few days. It had been something of an emergency and they had picked the closest planet that was safe and nowhere near any Galra bases or ships. What they had found was a jungle planet with less than friendly inhabitants. The natives of this planet hadn't been too thrilled with their arrival and kept trying to steal parts of the ship. Coran hadn't known anything about this civilization beforehand and he said that the small inhabitants, known as the Iptah, were relatively new. They communicated with clicking sounds mostly, but Coran said that they mainly expressed themselves in thoughts. It was a telepathic ability, and one that they did not like to share with outsiders. It made conversations with them long and uncomfortable.

None of the paladins had even really gotten a good look at their sudden neighbors, the Iptah wore cloaks of leaves and long grass and their faces were covered with wooden masks. So no one knew what they _actually_ looked like. They were fast and didn't seem to want anything to do with the paladins or anyone else, so they stayed out of sight.  Coran had established contact with them, informed them that the ship would be leaving soon and the Iptah forbade all of them from coming near their village.

"They very much want to keep to themselves." Coran had explained. "I've been informed that we will be cursed if we even as much as look upon them again."

"Seems a bit extreme," Shiro had commented. "But if they are that adamant about it, we’ll stay away."

However, the Iptah turned out to be incredibly manipulative. They started trying to sneak into the ship and make off with parts of it. When they were caught, there was a great deal of shouting and clicking on both sides and Coran ended up cursed for the rest of his days.

"Do you believe in curses?" Pidge asked.

"No and I don't even think the Iptah believe it. I think that _they_ think that I will respect their beliefs and it's a way to get us to look the other way while they attempt to plunder our ship."

"Wait, so there isn't a curse?" Lance asked. The group went silent and everyone just stared at Lance for a moment.

"Did… you think the curse was real?" Keith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well... noooo, but some curses are real!"

"Wait, wait... which curses do you think are real?" Pidge asked, now looking at Lance with disbelief.

"Lance believes in _mal de ojo_... the evil eye," Hunk offered with a shrug.

"The evil... eye," Keith said flatly.

"What is that?" Pidge asked.

"It's a real thing and I got sick as a baby because of it. A family friend once said I was adorable, because I was and always have been, and she didn't touch my head afterwards or even hold me, so I got really sick the next day."

"Yeah... I understand that even less now," Keith looked at Hunk, but the other boy just shrugged.

"Lance's mom swears it's what happened. Who am I to argue?"

"I've heard of it, but I don't really know much about it," Shiro admitted.

"That's fascinating. It only affects cute children?" Coran was leaning forward curiously.

"Not only cute children. But it's why I was sick a lot as a kid."

"Only you would say that you were so cute that it caused you to be ill." Pidge rolled her eyes.

"Well, I have fortunately grown up and I don't have to worry about that anymore because I'm so strong and manly now. I also don't have to be scared of _La Llorona_ anymore, which is great because she was scary."

"What?" Keith asked again, feeling completely lost.

"The weeping woman," Hunk explained. "She walks along canals and rivers at night looking for her lost children. She's known for taking kids who stay out late. Lance, is still scared of her.”

“Hunk! No, I’m not!”

“You told me a few months ago that you wouldn’t go near a river at night because of her.”

“Hunk!” Lance protested. “Dude, you don’t just tell people that!”

“It’s not just people. They’re our team.”

"Such a being exists on your planet?" Coran was staring with wide eyes. “Isn’t there a way to stop her?”

"It’s a folktale," Pidge explained, exasperated.

"It's not. I saw her when I was a kid. I swear!"

"Why didn't she take you then?" Pidge asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because as she got closer to me, the church bells rang for Mass and she left, just disappeared into the night."

"Okay. I think you're lying."

"I am not. Look, go visit a canal and walk along it late at night. You're small enough, _La Llorona_ would probably think you were a kid. She'd probably appear for you."

"I'm not doing that."

"Because you're scared."

"Because she's not real. Even if she was, I doubt the crying woman travels intergalactically, Lance."

Lance's expression went surprisingly blank. He had been prepared to keep arguing, but the reminder of how far they were from home, hit him suddenly.

“No, I guess she wouldn’t,” Lance said quietly.

Noticing the shift in the atmosphere, Shiro decided a distraction would be for the best.

"Hunk, Lance, it's your turn for patrol."

Both boys sighed, but quickly left to get their gear ready. Keep them busy; give them something to do that would divert their thoughts from home. It was all Shiro could think to do sometimes.

* * *

 

The patrols were just an attempt to keep the natives from stealing anything valuable. They weren’t malevolent, but they weren't friendly either. Lance and Hunk weren't supposed to engage in any kind of fighting with them, the patrols were just to try and keep up a presence, so that the Iptah would stop approaching the ship.

The forest was so dense that the sun's light barely filtered through the trees. A constant layer of fog hung about the ground, hiding their feet from view. Several times, they tripped over roots and stones. They never saw any of the planet's inhabitants, but they often felt like they were being watched. It was incredibly spooky.

Nobody liked the patrols.

Lance and Hunk had been walking around for a long time and they were chatting idly about nothing important, when Lance suddenly grabbed Hunk's arm and pulled him backwards. Hunk flailed and stumbled to remain upright.

"What's happening? What are you doing?" Hunk asked frantically.

Lance pointed to the ground just in front of his friend. It was hard to see with the fog, but the ground dropped off abruptly for about two feet and then there was just a flat sort of blackness that Hunk realized was water... or some kind of liquid anyway. With the fog, they couldn't tell if it was a pond or a lake or even a very slow river. They both peered down at it curiously.

"Does this planet have crocodiles?" Lance asked quietly.

"That swim in this? It doesn’t look like anything could live in there. I don’t even think your _La Llorona_ would haunt this. Is it even water?" Hunk turned his head following the edge, trying to see how far it went.

“She’s not mine and she probably still would. Do you think this planet could have its own version of her?”

Hunk went completely still for a moment and then he reached back, hitting Lance in the arm and interrupting the other boy in the middle of starting to say something about the possibility of alien piranhas.

"What is it?" Lance looked over, realizing Hunk was scared. Lance followed his gaze along the water’s edge to a few feet in front of him.

There, upon a large rock stood a short figure. It was one of the Iptah and Lance hadn't realized how silent they could be until that moment. This one was wearing a sort of cloak of long grass and a round red mask that hid its features.

Hunk had begun to back away, but Lance stayed put. The Iptah were small, if this one hadn't been standing on this rock then it wouldn't have even gone up to Lance's waist. That was way too little...

There was a dropped basket with yellow fruit scattered around at the base of the rock. Lance took a few steps forward and then dropped down to his knees. He carefully removed his helmet and set it to the side. He then smiled kindly and slowly, slowly turned the basket upright and began putting the fruit back into it.

"What are you doing?" Hunk hissed. "We're not even supposed to look at them."

"They're just kids, Hunk. We scared them. She dropped her food and everything."

"Them...?" Hunk started to question.

"There's a younger one hiding behind her."

Hunk peered more closely. Indeed there was another set of tiny feet standing behind the first motionless Iptah. An orange, smaller mask then peered from behind the bigger Iptah's side. Dark eyeholes seemed to stare vacantly at Hunk.

"How do you know she's a girl?" Hunk asked curiously. It seemed that the Iptah all looked really similar; Hunk couldn't make out any distinguishing features other than the cloaks and masks. Lance hadn't even realized Pidge was a girl until she had told him directly, so how was he suddenly so perceptive?

"I don't know. She's being protective of the smaller one. It reminds me of my sister."

Lance scooted the basket closer and then took a few crouching steps backwards. Lance looked at the child in front of him and smiled kindly.

"We didn't mean to scare you little one. My name is Lance and that's Hunk." Lance stopped to motion backwards at his friend. "Hunk, say hi."

"Hello," Hunk waved nervously.

"We're not going to hurt you, okay? You don't need to be scared."

The younger one started to move closer, stepping further into view. The older sister suddenly moved, pulling the little one back into hiding.

"Is that your sibling?" Lance asked curiously. "Little brother maybe? They can be annoying, huh?"

There was a moment of silence and then there was a clicking noise and it took Lance a moment to realize it was coming from the little girl in front of him.

There was a sudden rustling next to Lance and another small figure burst from the foliage. Lance had jumped slightly, but he very quickly realized it was another little kid. A lot smaller than the other two, this one was probably closer to toddler age. The littlest one scurried over and climbed the rock to hide behind the older sister.

He now had three masks staring at him, expressionless. Lance realized that the littlest one had been hiding from them this whole time and the fact that the kids were separated from each other was probably why the older sibling hadn't just left right away. She was waiting to make sure the youngest one was safe.

"I'm really not that scary, am I?" Lance picked up the basket and held it out to them.

The little girl hesitated and then snatched the basket away quickly. Coran had been right, they moved fast.

She was now looking at Lance with a tilted head, she didn't seem to be so afraid of him now. Lance grinned at her. Hunk was starting to relax again. There wasn't any danger here.

Lance then happened to glance over at the dark water and he realized one of the fruits was floating there. The Iptah wouldn't have been able to reach it, but Lance could do it easily. He leaned over the side, fishing the fruit out quickly. At his movement, all three Iptah stepped back. Lance checked the fruit over, it didn't seem damaged. Then he moved to set it in the basket with the others.

It was in that instant that things went wrong. As soon as Lance extended his arm, the basket was dropped again and there was a flurry of motion as all three children stumbled to get away from him. But in the sudden panic, the littlest one slipped and fell with a splash into the water below.

The oldest one immediately began to wail loudly and her two little arms shot out from between the blades of grass of her cloak as she reached for the youngest one. Reaching, but not jumping in. The little one didn't resurface, didn't even seem to be splashing around.

That was when Lance learned that the Iptah couldn’t swim.

Lance jumped into the water without hesitation. Alien crocodiles be damned.

He had been hoping that the water wasn't deep, but as he plunged in, his feet didn't touch the bottom. In the inky black he suddenly felt a drop of fear spread through him. Lance could swim and he loved the water, but this wasn't like anything he had ever experienced before. It was dark and when he opened his eyes to find the little Iptah, he at first saw nothing. It was like staring into some deep, dark never ending void. He turned one way and then the other. He was beginning to panic. Where was the little one? Where? Where? Where?

A bit of color against the darkness, a small flailing form. Lance was there in a moment and he soon had his arms around the tiny child. He kicked, wished he had the ground to propel himself off of, and swam as hard as he could back to the surface.

For a terrifying moment, Lance thought he had become disoriented in the dark and he wasn't swimming up at all, but then there was sudden air and he gasped as he held up the little one into waiting arms. The child was coughing, sputtering up water, but breathing and alive.

The mask had come off in the water and Lance found large eyes staring at him. Two grey eyes, a small nose and mouth and skin that matched his own in tone. Another little brother, Lance thought.

Lance barely had time to process it before the children ran back into the forest, the older one now carrying the littlest one. He was still staring after them when Hunk appeared and began frantically pulling him from the water.

“Lance, are you alright? Man, you just disappeared. It's so dark I couldn't see you at all. Did you breathe any of it in? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's fine. Did you see him?"

"What? See who?"

"The kid, they look like us. Underneath the mask and all that. I mean, their eyes are huge and their noses and mouths are like really little, but they look a lot like us."

"I didn't see that. That's crazy, man... Are you sure you're alright?"

Lance glanced down at himself, he had dark, clouded streaks of water dripping down his armor. It looked disgusting.

"Yeah, I'm fine... Maybe we shouldn't tell Shiro or Coran about this though."

Hunk laughed softly.

"What's funny?"

"I was just thinking that those kids might be saying the same thing to each other. Y'know, don't tell our parents that we saw the visitors and I dropped our baby sibling in the dark water of doom."

"Well, I hope so. I'd rather not be cursed."

Hunk grinned and handed Lance the helmet he had discarded earlier.

"Take that with you the next time you perform a daring rescue, alright?"

Lance grinned. "Well, you know how it is, when it comes to saving lives, sometimes you only have so much time to respond. It's the hero's lot in life."

"Yeah, especially when you're the one that scared the kids in the first place."

"Hey, I didn't mean to. I was trying to be nice."

"Yeah, I know...Alright hero, let's get back so you can get cleaned up."

"Great because I think that stuff smelled and it's grossing me out a little bit." Lance shook his head, spraying water droplets in all directions.

"Lance! Gross." Hunk sidestepped away from Lance’s splash zone. Once Lance was done, Hunk offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet.

Soon they were walking back, laughing about some immature joke that Lance made. It was hard to believe that a few moments ago Hunk had been so frightened for his friend and the little Iptah child. He was just so glad that everything turned out okay and that everyone was safe.

* * *

 

Lance was having a bit of an off day. Granted, it probably wasn't good to have an off day in the middle of a battle, but it hadn't been a deliberate decision.

Days had gone by since their departure from the Iptah's planet and nobody had been sad to leave it behind.

However, now that they were engaging the Galra in an active battle, Lance almost missed the boring patrols. He had been firing away from behind some rocks. Unfortunately, this planet was full of rocks and the Galra made use of them as well. The sun was beating down on him and it felt like the light from it was stinging his eyes no matter where he looked.

No matter how much he blinked, things were starting to blur. His shots were going wide, missing their marks. He compensated. If his shots were going to the side then he just needed to adjust his aiming. It was fine. He was the sharpshooter, no big deal. He could still do his job, even if he was starting to feel a little dizzy and nauseous.

It wasn’t until Shiro was commanding him to fall back that he realized he wasn’t taking down that many enemies at all.

"What are you aiming for?" Keith shouted from somewhere behind him.

"There's sweat in my eyes! You want to try this?" Lance shouted back, irritated.

"Are you kidding me? We're going to die because you're sweaty?"

"It's a desert planet, you jerk!"

"Nobody is dying," Shiro interrupted before they could really start arguing. "Fall back, get to your Lions."

They did as they were told, taking the fight to the sky instead.

Once he was in Blue, he didn't notice the way everything still blurred. Blue was with him now, with her help he could see everything he needed to.

* * *

 

With the fighting coming to an end, Lance started to become aware of a building pain in his eyes. It felt as though he had been looking directly at the sun. He blinked several times, but that didn't help at all.

As soon as he piloted Blue into her hangar, he slipped his helmet half way off, so that it balanced on the back of his head, and then he rubbed at his eyes harshly.

Touching them turned out to be a mistake as the pain multiplied tenfold. He let out a surprised gasp and involuntarily leaned forward in his chair. He went still, his hands hovering around his face, but now too afraid to try and touch his eyes again.

As the pain slowly ebbed away, he could feel Blue's concern flood his mind.

"It's fine," Lance managed to get out. The pain had dulled to a persistent ache at his temples. He glanced around the cockpit, noticing the haze that seemed to be over everything. Lance wanted to brush it off, say it was just a headache, but this didn't feel normal. This wasn't like anything he had ever experienced.

He made his way out of his Lion, forcing himself to remain calm. Don't panic, probably just a migraine. Those could be bad, couldn't they? Pidge got them sometimes and she always needed to take break when that happened.

Lance activated his com to hear Shiro asking about him. From the tone of his voice, it sounded like he had been trying to call him for a while.

"Here. Sorry."

"Lance, what happened? We've been trying to talk to you."

"I got a... uh... I feel weird."

"Weird how?" Shiro asked.

"He was having trouble down on the planet," Keith reported flatly.

"What do you mean trouble?"

"He couldn't aim. He was shooting at rocks."

Lance felt his stomach drop in humiliation. So it was true, but Keith didn't need to just say it like that. Lance was the sharpshooter, what was the point if he couldn't shoot his targets?

"Lance, are you hurt?" Shiro was attempting to find an explanation. A hidden injury would make sense.

"No, it's not like that."

"If it helps," Coran suddenly broke in, "Lance's temperature is elevated more than normal. I'm detecting a malfunction in your armor, it's failing to optimally regulate your body temperature."

Well, that explained why he had been sweating so much down on the planet and why he suddenly felt like he was going to pass out.

There was a brief pause.

"Lance," Shiro was talking slowly, working to maintain a calm voice. "Can you take off your armor and stay where you are? I'm on my way."

"I’m alright. I can make it to the infirmary." At least he was pretty sure he could.

"No, just stay there. We'll go to the infirmary together."

Lance sighed as he realized that Shiro didn’t believe him. He listened to Shiro make plans with Coran and the others to meet at the infirmary.

The pain in his head had dulled, but his eyes still hurt. They itched now. Could the heat cause that to happen?

Lance started to remove his armor, he had probably just managed to get some sand in his eyes, he would wash his face later and it would be fine.

 

* * *

 

Lance was given water to drink and a cool cloth for his forehead. He stretched out on the exam table and waited for his vision to go back to normal.

"Nothing too serious. You should be feeling much better in a little while," Coran said while he checked the readings on the computer. Lance rubbed at his eyes absently while Coran started talking about his plans to fix Lance's armor.

"Are the lights hurting your head?" Shiro asked. Lance realized he had started pressing his fingertips into his eyelids too roughly.

"A little bit," Lance admitted. "My eyes are bothering me."

"They hurt?" Shiro questioned. Lance worked his jaw. They didn't even hurt _that_ much anymore. He was probably just being a baby. It wasn't really worth bringing up.

"Maybe it's the evil eye..." Pidge chimed in, looking very amused with herself. She had just maneuvered a pillow under Lance’s legs so that they would be slightly elevated and then she had sat there on the edge of the table, knowing Lance would find comfort in the proximity.

"The evil eye doesn't make your eyes hurt," Hunk stated. "It makes you sick."

"And nobody has complimented my adorableness lately," Lance added, managing to sound hurt at the idea.

"Besides, this would more likely be the Iptah curse," Hunk said nonchalantly.

"It's just heat exhaustion," Keith was genuinely confused at the conversation.

"Why would the Iptah only curse Lance?" Pidge asked, ignoring Keith. "I thought they only cursed Coran.”

The room went oddly silent. Pidge had merely said it for the sake of arguing, but Hunk's eyes went a little wide, realizing he had said too much. Lance turned his head and gave Hunk a desperate look. Maybe nobody would notice...

"Hunk," Shiro said slowly. "Why _would_ the Iptah curse Lance?"

Busted.

"Hunk, dude..." Lance groaned in exasperation.

"They wouldn't! No reason! Curses aren't even real!" Hunk waved his arms frantically, an action that screamed of deception.

"Lance." Shiro turned to Lance who was trying to look as sickly as possible. Maybe Shiro wouldn't be too mad. "What happened?”

"Nothing happened. I just saw one of them and I tried to talk to her."

"Lance, please tell me you didn't try to flirt with her,” Shiro shut his eyes and looked like he was silently asking for patience. 

"No! No it's not like that. She was just a kid. I scared her by accident so I tried to talk to her and... Well, it didn't work. She ran off after that."

None of that was a lie. It was just omission of some little details. No need to explain how he nearly caused a small child to drown.

Shiro let out a sigh and he glanced over at Coran who merely shrugged.

"The Iptah never mentioned it to me. She probably didn't tell anyone about it. No harm done." Coran patted Lance's shoulder. "Also, I'm not seeing anything wrong with your eyes. I'm afraid it really is just a matter of getting overheated."

"I'm too hot," Lance mumbled with a small grin. His whole team groaned in exasperation.

"Obviously, he is feeling better," Pidge commented with an eye roll.

It was true. The pain in his head had abated and the twinge of pain in his eyes had diminished a great deal. They felt a little irritated, but it was nothing worth complaining about.

He could ignore a little bit of discomfort.

* * *

 

Coran had said he was fine. And for a few days he carried on as usual.

But it now was at a point where he couldn’t deny that his vision was blurry and the itching was persisting to the point that it kept him up at night.

The skin around his eyes was starting to look a bit red, as he was constantly scratching, rubbing and pressing his fingers into his closed eyelids.

He couldn't bear to keep his eye mask on when he tried to sleep and, without it, the lights on the ship bothered him. Even though he was now exhausted and in pain, he still didn’t tell anyone. It seemed like the longer it went on, the more he didn’t want to say anything. He could deal with it; there was no need to involve the others. No need to worry them.

Lance's secret didn't come out on a mission or even during training, but at breakfast when Hunk asked him to pass a spoon.

Lance stared down at the table for a long moment, realizing he couldn't tell which of these metal objects was a spoon or a different utensil. He squinted and furrowed his brow. Surely it hadn't been this bad yesterday? When had it gotten this bad?

"Lance?" Hunk looked at him with some concern. Lance ended up grabbing all of the silverware in front of him and handing it all to Hunk at once.

"Are you alright?" Hunk asked as he accepted the tableware.

Lance shook his head slightly, trying to let Hunk know he didn't want to talk about it. But Hunk either didn't get the message or ignored it.

"What's wrong?"

"Eyes are blurry," he answered quickly.

"Blurry?" Shiro asked. "Blurry how?”

Lance only shrugged in response.

"Do you think you need glasses?" Shiro asked.

"I don't know." Lance wrinkled his nose at the idea. Glasses weren't really his style. Everyone was looking at him now and he was grateful that Allura and Coran hadn't joined them yet. He didn't want any more of an audience.

"Here. You can try these." Pidge carefully handed her glasses over to Lance. Hesitantly, Lance slid them on his face. He then looked around the room. Everything was still as blurry as it was before.

"Well?" Shiro asked hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe that's a little better." Truthfully, the lenses were causing his eyes to ache. He looked over to Hunk to find the other boy hiding a large grin.

"What is it?" Lance asked.

"Sorry, man. They just don't suit you."

"They look bad?" Lance glanced around to get confirmation from the others. Everyone was suddenly avoiding his gaze.

"Not that bad. You just need different frames." Hunk was smiling gently at him. Lance pulled the glasses off and handed them back to Pidge.

"I don't need glasses anyway. I was just tired. Things are already starting to look better." Lance sunk down in his seat, pouting a bit.

"Your eyes are red," Keith remarked out of nowhere and the atmosphere in the room seemed to shift. "Do they hurt?"

Lance just stared at a blurry Keith for a minute.

"I just have something in my eye," Lance said slowly.

"In both eyes?"

"Yes."

"Lance, they do look red." Shiro was beginning to think that there was something actually really wrong here.

Lance never got a chance to come up with an excuse because it was in that moment that the worse pain he had ever felt went stabbing through his right eye. It made him gasp and involuntarily press his palm to his face. He doubled over, nearly hitting his head against the tabletop.

"Lance! Lance!" They all started yelling his name at the same time and he tried to wave them off.

"Let me see, let me see," Shiro was tilting his head back trying to get Lance to open his eyes, but Lance struggled away.

"Don't touch it," Lance ground out. "Don't touch me." Suddenly, there were too many people and he felt like a cornered animal, distrusting and scared. Lance stood up, keeping his eyes firmly shut.

“Get away from me!” There was a tense pause where nobody moved. Lance took several deep breaths, trying his best to ride out the pain. He gripped the table edge in front of him until his knuckles turned white.

"You need to go to the infirmary," Shiro said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Alright," Lance agreed hesitantly after a moment. He swallowed, suddenly feeling embarrassed over his outburst. Lance started to turn to leave, but he stumbled. He caught himself on the back of his chair and took another moment to recompose himself. Moving around made it hurt, like someone was driving a hot poker into his eye.

"Can I help you?" Shiro didn't sound like he would take no for an answer, but he needed to ask, considering how Lance had just reacted to being touched.

Lance nodded and allowed Shiro to set a hand on his arm to steady him and make sure he didn't trip over anything.

"How long have they been hurting?" Shiro asked quietly, once they had left the room.

Lance understood that Shiro was mostly talking to keep them both as calm as possible, but he really didn't feel like talking about it.

"I don't know. Feels like it's been forever now."

"Since right before you got overheated." Hunk said from behind Lance somewhere. Lance turned his head, trying to see his friend. He hadn't even realized that Hunk had followed them out.

"Since the Iptah's planet," Hunk said slowly. Lance chewed his lip. The curse wasn't actually real, right? Lance believed in a lot of things, but Coran had said there was no curse.

Lance exchanged a worried look with Hunk. Hunk looked nervous, his eyes darted around as if he thought the curse could be seen hanging around the corridor. Lance shook his head at him. This wasn't the curse, it couldn't be.

Shiro was still trying to lead Lance to the infirmary and he sighed, realizing that the two of them were having a silent conversation that he couldn't understand. Something was going on here and it was only a matter of time before the truth came out. Shiro was patient; they would have to tell him eventually.

* * *

 

"How long have they been hurting you?" Coran asked, peering curiously into Lance's eyes.

"I guess since we left that one planet. The Iptah's planet." Lance tried to sound casual about it and not like he was beginning to panic over a possible alien curse.

Coran hummed in thought.

"It could have been something you touched and then if you rubbed your eyes afterwards... Not an allergy, perhaps a bacterial infection or maybe even a fungus..."

"What about if he came into contact with water?" Hunk asked and Lance gave him a worried look.

"Sure, did you get splashed with water and then touch your eyes while you were on patrol?"

"Yeah, you could say that,” Lance mumbled.

"Lance," Shiro admonished. They were never going to figure this out, if Lance wasn’t going to be honest.

"Well..." Lance gave Hunk a nervous look and Hunk nodded encouragingly. "I ended up jumping into this... lake thing. But I had to. This little like toddler Iptah fell in. I had to do something. I scared her and she knocked her little brother into the water. It was my fault."

There was a quiet moment where Coran just blinked at him and Shiro slowly crossed his arms.

"Why didn't you say any of this before?" Shiro asked.

"I don't know. I guess because of the curse and I knew we weren't supposed to have contact with them. And it was my fault. I thought you would both be mad."

"I'm not angry. My boy, you could have told me about it. You didn't need to hide it." Coran smiled reassuringly at Lance. 

"Keeping you safe is more important than anyone being mad," Shiro added.

"Water could have had all kinds of bacteria and not everything in the universe is known to this system, so it might not even pick it up in a scan."

A few minutes later, Lance was being given a variety of pills and a water pouch to drink them all down with.

"Bacterial, fungal, viral, pain reliever," Coran was pointing to each one. "Probably easiest if we just cover everything. You're going to feel a bit queasy, that's normal. Oh, and I have a topical eye ointment, hold still-"

Lance jerked away immediately, nearly dropping his pill collection.

"Sorry," Lance quickly apologized, realizing he looked like an idiot. "I... just don't want anyone to touch my eyes."

"I will be careful." Coran started to move forward, but Lance moved away.

"No." there was that panicking feeling again. It didn't make sense, but it made his heart pound. He knew Coran was trying to help him, but it just made him feel on edge. "Sorry," Lance said, but he didn't move any closer to Coran.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked, picking up on the panic.

"I don't know. I just... Everything keeps coming in and out of focus and I guess it's just really bothering me. And it really hurts. I don't want anyone to make it worse."

"Will the ointment hurt?" Hunk asked for the sake of his friend.

"To be honest, it will most likely sting, but it will be over quick and it will make them feel better in the end."

Lance took several deep breaths.

"Maybe take the pills first, drink the water," Shiro suggested. Lance nodded and slowly brought the pills to his mouth. They left a bitter taste on his tongue as he swallowed them all quickly.

"Do you want me or Hunk to put the ointment in?" Shiro asked after a moment.

"No, no, it's not a problem with Coran. I'm sorry. I'll hold still now."

"It will be over in a tick," Coran said.  Lance leaned back on the exam table, forcing his eyes to stay open. Coran gently pulled down his lower eyelid and squeezed some ointment out of the tube he had. Lance did actually start to jerk away, but Hunk caught his shoulder. Coran quickly repeated the process with the other eye as well.

"Try to hold still, it will be over in a second," his friend reassured him. For a moment Lance only felt a coolness that seemed out of place.

“Close your eyes and then keep them closed for about sixty ticks,” Coran instructed. Lance blinked his eyes and then there was a sharp stinging sensation.

"Oh," Lance articulated before his eyes filled with tears and he shut them tightly against the new pain. "That's… really bad," Lance gasped out as he reached up to press his palms to his face.

Coran caught his hands.

"Don't touch them. You need to leave them alone… and you could be contagious. Here." A damp cloth was set over his eyes and the pain diminished slightly.

"It will be over soon. Just give it some time."

So now his eyes were hurting very badly and he was in darkness. Not being able to see made him nervous. He knew he didn't have any reason to be, but paranoia had crept into his mind. He felt his heart speed up again. Hunk squeezed his arm and he let out the breath he was holding in.

"Hey, did Coran tell you that he knows a planet that has, like, thousands and thousands of miles of beaches?"

Lance turned his head slightly towards Hunk's voice.

"Yeah?" Lance said in a strained tone.

"That's right," Coran chimed in. "The most beautiful beaches in the universe. Hunk said you would like them."

"I do miss the ocean and the sun and bikinis..." Lance trailed off. The pain was beginning to ebb.  

"We can go there when you're feeling better,” Hunk said.

"I don't know if I feel much like swimming after this though," Lance mumbled. "Space water and space pink eye. I might not go swimming for a long time."

"No worries! It's very clean, very unlikely to cause any problems,” Coran explained.

Lance hummed in response. He did miss the sound of waves.

"How are you feeling?" Shiro asked after a moment of quiet.

"Better," Lance sounded surprised. The pain had faded. There was still a dull ache, but his eyes did feel better.

"Excellent,” Coran patted his arm exuberantly. “You’ll be on the mend in no time.”

Lance was soon sent back to his room to rest. The pills would likely make him feel a little sick, so he was told it would be best to sleep through that part, if he could.

"Don't touch your eyes," Coran had warned. "You're likely to still be contagious for about a day. Then you should feel completely better."

Coran then started talking about needing to disinfect everything Lance had touched for the past week or so. He went off to go have a word with Pidge and sanitize her glasses while Hunk and Shiro both walked Lance back to his room. Shiro told him to rest one more time and Hunk made sure he was comfortable before leaving to go about his day.

"I'll be back in a little while; I can bring lunch here to you."

Lance had nodded and forced a smile. He was then left alone.

Lance hadn't realized how tired he was until now. The painkiller was taking the edge off and he could feel his muscles relaxing. He stretched out on his bed. Maybe he could actually sleep now.

Before he knew it, Lance was drifting off into the deepest sleep he'd had in days.

* * *

 

Lance awoke to pain.

He sat up and clenched his fists at his sides. He had started to reach up to touch his eyes, but he had stopped himself.

He writhed from the pain that seemed to stab through his head. His eyes burned and itched more than they ever had. He shut them tightly and moved to get out of bed. He clumsily put on his shoes and stumbled out the door.

He needed to find Shiro or Coran, tell them that the medicine wasn't working, it felt worse now. Lance was taking steps slowly. He trailed one hand along the wall to help guide him. His vision blurred with tears and the lights seared into his retina.

He forced himself to breathe through it. Panicking wasn't going to help him. He just needed to stay calm.

Lance finally rubbed at his eye, even though Coran had told him not to. He just couldn't help it. It stung and hurt and it just itched so bad. His eyes watered from the pain and he wiped away the forming tears. He blinked, trying to get them to stop, but he found it strangely unhelpful. Lance wiped at his face again feeling the tears fall unhindered.

Through blurred vision, Lance caught sight of something red on his fingers. He blinked and forced his eyes to focus.

Blood.  

Had he cut his hand without knowing it? But it didn't hurt...

Lance glanced down, realizing he had red dots on his shirt as well. Little marks of droplets, drip, drip, dripping down his face.

Lance was crying tears of blood.

Lance shut his eyes and took a panicky breath before he called out loudly for Shiro. Something was really wrong with him. It had quickly become terrifying and it hurt so much.

"Shiro!" Lance shouted, trying not to give into panic. "Coran! Shiro!" He couldn’t tell if they were even nearby. He couldn’t tell if anyone was close enough to hear him.

"Lance, Shiro isn't around, what are you yelling about?"

Keith! Keith had come up walking behind him and when Lance turned toward the other boy he heard his sharp intake of breath.

"Shit, Lance! Shit! Your face. Your face." Keith had apparently picked this moment to be incredibly unhelpful. "Your eyes! What the hell happened?"

"I don't-I dont..." Lance stammered, unable to finish his sentence, choking on fear.

Lance started actually crying then and he imagined that it made it look so much worse.

"Calm down, it's okay. We’ll find Coran." Keith had grabbed his arm and was pulling him along, back to the infirmary.

Lance rubbed his eyes and it hurt so much now. He smeared blood across his face and he could feel it starting to dry, causing strands of hair to stick to his temples.

Red seemed to take over his vision as Lance felt pressure building behind his eyeballs. He blinked, but nothing cleared away the redness, he couldn't see where he was going at all now.

"Keith..." Lance's voice shook; he wasn't embarrassed about looking weak and childish, because he was well and truly scared now. Keith paused and Lance ran into him. At the contact, Lance used his free hand to grab a hold of Keith's jacket.

"Keith... I-I can't see."

"You can't... alright, just... stay calm. Breathe. It's going to be fine. We'll get help."

They walked slowly. Lance had a death grip on Keith's jacket, his complete loss of vision was making him panic and it didn't matter how many times Keith told him to ‘just breathe.’ What if it was permanent? What if he was blind? Could he still be a paladin? How would that work? Lance's breathing hitched and his tears began falling anew.

He felt rough cloth against his face and it took him a moment to realize that Keith was wiping drops of blood from his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Try to calm down," Keith whispered. "Crying might be making it worse."

Lance nodded and swallowed down the nausea that had crept up on him.

They eventually made it to the infirmary, but not before Lance had managed to get blood all over himself and Keith's jacket. Even if he wasn't actively crying, the tears flowed without stopping.

When Coran showed up, he uttered a few Altean curse words that Lance had never heard before. Shiro arrived soon after and he went a little pale upon seeing Lance sitting there with a death grip on Keith's sleeve and blood dripping down his face.

"Sorry, hold still," Coran didn't give Lance any time to react before he grabbed Lance’s face and pulled open his eyelid. It hurt and Lance started to struggle away, but Keith and Shiro both grabbed him. "Just hold him for a moment," Coran sounded so serious and it was frightening the way he was no longer addressing Lance, as if Lance was no longer able to do what he was told.

"What the hell is that?" Keith sounded disturbed. Lance tried to shut his eye, but Coran held it open.

“I’m sorry, my boy. I’m so sorry. Just hold on a little longer.”

"It's a... Is it a worm?" Shiro tried to sound calm, as if he hadn't just seen a thin worm moving in the blood under Lance’s eyelid.

"Parasite," Coran finally let Lance shut his eye. "I don't know this species exactly, but there's no denying it."

Lance whimpered and Coran placed a hand at the base of his neck.

"You'll be fine. I have medication for it. You're going to have to go in a pod though. We didn't catch them soon enough. They're damaging your tear ducts..."

"I can't see," Lance forced out.

"I know, I know. They’re putting pressure on your optic nerve, but you will be fine. We'll get you in a pod, there won't be lasting damage."

Soon Lance was told to swallow a pill and drink some water. Coran went to the nearby computer and began typing away.

"I'm sorry, I thought I had covered all of the options, but I missed one. They must move around, they never showed up when I scanned your eyes before. I'm going to do a quick scan again, check your levels..."

"The Iptah curse," Lance suddenly said.

"It's not a curse, Lance. It's something you picked up on that planet though..."

Coran went quiet, studying something on his screen. He frowned deeply and glanced over at Shiro. Shiro raised an eyebrow in question, but Coran shook his head.

"He needs to go into a pod," Coran said, sounding too serious.

Without hesitation, Shiro had scooped Lance up and was carrying him. Lance was still for a moment, before he balked in a delayed reaction.

"No, wait, it was my fault. I can't go in the pod. I can't."

"Lance, relax,” Shiro tried.

"Don't touch me! I can't go. We have to do something. It was my fault. It was my fault. Put me down." Lance struggled hard.

"Lance, calm down!"

"We need to go back."

Shiro stopped walking and slowly sunk to the floor. Lance was struggling too hard and Shiro was afraid of dropping him. Shiro kept his arms around Lance as the boy continued to fight, becoming more and more desperate.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"Lance! You're going to hurt yourself,” Shiro was attempting to keep the situation under control, but Lance was becoming hysterical.

"Keith, go get Hunk," Coran said before he knelt down and joined Shiro on the floor. Keith ran from the room without hesitation.

"Lance, dear boy, remain calm."

"You don't understand!"

"Hey, take a breath. Explain it, then." Shiro was keeping his voice level, but he would have been lying if he said he wasn't disturbed by the situation. Blood was still steaming down Lance's face and whenever he opened his eyes, Shiro could see the squirming bit of white of a parasite that moved within the sclera.

Lance took several shuddering breaths, but he seemed to have trouble calming down.

"Sorry," Lance gasped out finally. "Something's wrong with me."

"We know. We're going to fix it though."

"No, I mean, I feel weird, like something terrible is going to happen and..."

"Lance, the parasites are in your blood stream and they are releasing chemicals that are inhibiting you're neurotransmitters and receptors. It's causing a feeling of paranoia."

What Coran didn't say was that Lance could very possibly have a seizure from what was happening and that it was, in fact, inevitable, unless they got him into a pod. Lance needed to remain calm.

"The distrust you have, it's not you. Please know that we would not hurt you on purpose. Try to remember that and don't panic."

"Something else," Lance paused and swallowed hard. "Something else though."

"What is it?" Shiro asked as he readjusted his grip on Lance.

Hunk then burst into the room, causing Lance to jump at the noise and squirm in Shiro's arms.

"It's Hunk," Shiro quickly provided. "It’s just Hunk, you're okay."

Hunk was at Lance's side in an instant, while Keith entered the room and nervously hung back, giving them all space.

"Keith told me what happened," Hunk explained quickly. "Whoa, oh man, he looks like a scary movie." Hunk grabbed a hold of Lance's hand and when Lance didn't recoil at the action, he set his other hand on the side of his face, smoothing back the hair that had gone sticky from blood at Lance's temples.

"Hunk, listen. I can't go in the pod. We have to go back to the Iptah's planet. We have to find that kid that fell in the water. If it's from the water, then he has it too. He was so little Hunk."

Because he had only just realized it moments ago. It wasn't an actual curse or something that the Iptah did to him, it was something natural and terrible that could hurt anyone. He remembered the Iptah girl screaming when the baby fell into the water. Lance thought it was because she couldn't swim to save him, but it wasn't just that. That dark water that looked black as night and smelled of death was dangerous because of what was within it.

Lance had naively pulled that fruit from the water and maybe he had already doomed himself then, but it was when he tried to give that fruit to the children that they reacted in fear and sent the small one tumbling into the water. They weren't scared of him at that point. They were scared of the water he had touched.

It was his fault. Now that little one was most likely suffering and they probably didn't have medicine for it. If they had treatment for it, then they probably wouldn't have been that afraid of it. He was practically a baby. What had Lance done to him? Would he go blind? Lose his eyes completely? Would he die from it eventually?

"It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay," Hunk assured him. Lance had started to cry great heaving sobs as he told them what he had been thinking and why they had to go back. It was all his fault. He had been so stupid!

"You're not stupid. You were just being friendly. It's not your fault," Hunk tried to calm him.

Lance ended up wrapped in Hunk's arms, smearing blood across his friend's shirt.

"We will go back," Coran was saying quietly, "Lance, I promise we will go back and we will help that child if they let us, but you must go in the pod now."

"Hunk..." Shiro trailed off, giving Hunk a concerned look.

"I can carry him," Hunk said with resolve.

Without further delay, Hunk linked one arm under Lance's knees and hoisted him up. Going from kneeling to standing with Lance in his arms took some effort, but Shiro helped to support them.

Lance clung to Hunk and started to say he didn't want to go into the pod. He needed to fix his mistake. _He needed to_.

Shiro shushed him and offered more quiet reassurances. They worked quickly to get Lance in a pod before he could panic again. With a feeling of guilt, Hunk let go of Lance, trying not to look at the way his friend still reached out his arms, trying to cling to him. The pod was activated and Hunk reached up to wipe the edge of his eyes that had begun to water, but Coran caught his arm.

“Don’t touch your eyes,” Coran said grimly.

Once Lance was secure and beginning the healing process, Coran started sanitizing everything in the room.

"Give me your shirt, Hunk. Is there blood anywhere else? There could be eggs in it. Keith, give me your jacket. Yes, I saw the blood on the sleeve. I'm just going to clean it. Go wash your hands, all of you. I'm going to go decontaminate Lance's room after this."

Hunk started to go find a clean shirt to wear, but he stopped before he made it out the door.

"Are we really going back to the Iptah's planet?"

"I promised we would, didn't I?" Coran said as he started to scrub off the exam table.

"Do you think we'll make it in time?"

Coran tilted his head thoughtfully.

"I believe we will."

* * *

 

When Lance awoke from the pod, his eyes ached. It felt as though someone had punched him a few times in the face.

"We had to wake you up a bit early. I’m truly sorry," Coran sounded worried. Lance really didn’t like it when he sounded like that.

"That s'kay," Lance slurred. He blinked a few times, feeling relief wash over him. He could see.  

"Lance."

Lance turned his head to look at Allura. Although his vision was better, the lights still stung and his brain felt like it was sloshing around in his skull.

"The Iptah are refusing to let us see the child. They say they want proof that we can cure him. Are you able to go with Coran and be the proof yourself?"

Coran was looking into Lance's eyes while Allura spoke, looking for signs of the parasites. His eyes were slightly red, but they didn't look nearly as bad as before. The parasites were dead, but Lance was still recovering from the damage they had caused.

“I'll go. Of course, I'll go."

Coran smiled and patted him on the back.

"I knew you would say that."

* * *

 

Hunk, Pidge and Keith were already at the Iptah village, trying to convince them that they were trustworthy. They were buying time while Coran, Shiro and Lance made the short trek to the village.

The journey was slow with Lance walking carefully between Coran and Shiro.

"Just a little further," Coran encouraged. Lance grunted in response. When he had started out, Lance had been feeling pretty good, but after getting his armor and gear and walking for several minutes, he was beginning to feel terrible. The parasites may have been gone, but his eyes were still sore and his head pounded. The little bit of light filtering down through the trees was making him wince in pain.

“Headache?" Shiro asked quietly.

Lance nodded slightly.

"When we get there, you should know that the Iptah are probably just going to make clicking noises at you. But if they do talk to you, you'll hear it in your mind. They can't read your thoughts so it's not a two way communication. Just try to talk to them and try not to offend them. Try not to be so tall. They don't like tall things."

"I'll work on that... They must be loving Pidge." Lance shut his eyes and was content to let Shiro lead with a steady hand on his arm.

"They do seem to listen to Pidge more than the rest of us,” Coran said thoughtfully.

When they finally arrived at the village, Lance's headache had gotten so bad that he thought he might pass out from it. However, he suddenly had about thirty different masked aliens staring at him. Hunk, Pidge and Keith all looked relieved to see him, though he didn't miss the concern on their faces. Hunk moved to Lance's side quickly and asked if Lance was feeling up to this.

Lance hummed, unable to nod and worried he wouldn't be able to articulate a verbal response. He scanned the crowd of Iptah while Coran introduced him. They all just stood there, how was he supposed to...

Suddenly, a smaller Iptah broke through the crowd and ran up to him. She stopped a few feet in front of him and anxiously began hopping from one foot to the other.

Oh.

With some effort, Lance pulled his helmet off his head and then dropped to his knees. Hunk and Shiro both seemed to think he was collapsing, because they both grabbed him in an attempt to pull him up. Lance shrugged them off.

"M'fine. Let me fix it." Lance stared for a long time at the little being in front of him.

"Big sister," Lance said quietly, "I'm so sorry I scared you before... where are your brothers? Is the baby sick? He is the baby, right? Can we see him? We can help." Lance swallowed hard, now was not the time to feel dizzy and nauseous.

"I got sick too... My eyes were really bad, but they're fine now. See?" Lance leaned forward and blinked before opening his eyes wide.

Small hands were on his face suddenly. He had forgotten how quickly they could move. His head was tilted one way and then the other. Then there was another Iptah and another and then another. They were all taking turns grasping his face and looking into his eyes. A multitude of masks swam before his line of sight, but then he could just make out the large grey eyes that were hidden behind the masks.

An older Iptah, who Lance had a feeling was more important than the rest, pulled his eyelids open wide and was not gentle as he turned Lance's head one way and then the other. A finger went across his eyeball and Lance finally jerked his head away. Tears began forming in his eye and he tried to stop them from falling, but he felt sick and too exposed now. He just wanted to help. Hadn't they seen enough? Please, he just wanted to fix his mistake.

Shiro was at his side, pushing away more inquiring hands.

"Enough," Shiro commanded. Everyone shrank away, giving Lance more room. "You either let us help or you don't, but you will not touch him again."

Shiro sounded… furious. Lance's word should have been enough. Like hell was he going to stand by and watch his teammate get hurt and manipulated. It was making him sick to watch Lance willingly let someone hurt him, just because of the guilt he felt over something that had been an honest mistake. Keith was there suddenly, creating more of a barrier for Lance. Keith's mouth was set in a grim line as he stared down the offenders.

“Step back,” Keith bit out to a few Iptah who had wandered too close again.

There was a clicking that filled the air and then the Iptah parted and the one Lance had called 'Big sister,' held her hand out to Lance. Lance only hesitated a moment before he took it.

“Lance,” Keith started to object.

“It’s okay, Keith. I’ll be fine,” Lance sounded calm as he followed the girl to a nearby hut. The entire team followed, though only Coran was able to fit into the small abode with Lance. There was the little child that Lance had been so worried for, curled up on a mat on the ground with blood dripping down his face. Lance knelt down, feeling so exhausted suddenly. Without his mask and cloak of grass and leaves, all Lance could think was that they did in fact look similar to humans. They're body build was different, longer arms and legs with a smaller torso. But still familiar.

Coran was soon giving the child something to drink and Lance's stomach turned as he caught sight of a parasitic worm on the boy's cheek.

Lance sat there for a long time, watching Coran work. Cleaning and administering eye ointment. Lance was so focused that he didn't even notice the slight weight leaning against his side. Sat right beside him was the Iptah child that had lead him in.

" _Kitsa_." The little girl finally spoke. Though Lance didn't know if it was considered speaking when it resounded in his head like that. Lance looked down at her in surprise.

"What?" His dry throat made his voice crack.

" _My name_ ," Kitsa explained before looking back at Coran and her brother. Coran gave him an odd look, but didn’t comment. He was not able to hear the whole conversation that Lance was having.

"What's his name?" Lance pointed to the small boy on the mat.

" _Kotan_."

There was a pause while Lance took in that information.

"Are you allowed to talk to me?"

" _No, it's forbidden_."

"Okay... Do you care about that?"

" _No. You will save Kotan_."

"I hope so," Lance mumbled. Kitsa leaned into his side and Lance shifted, thinking that there was no way she could be comfortable leaning into his armor like that.

" _I believe you will_."

* * *

 

Lance had never been the receiver of so many gifts. They ranged from colorful feathers to food to sparkling stones that had been fashioned into jewelry for him to wear.

Once Kotan had been given all of the appropriate medicine, Lance had to return to a pod to finish healing. The little child recovered while he slept. Lance had wanted to take the toddler with him to a pod, to be sure he healed properly, but the Iptah would not allow it, so Lance had gone back on his own.

Luckily, Kotan seemed to recover nicely. Coran suspected that his vision may not be as good in one of his eyes, but he had survived and he was doing well.

The Iptah now clung around Lance as though he was a miracle, as though he was the most amazing person in the universe.

Lance learned the names of all the Iptah children. Lance adored them and he loved playing with all of the kids of the village. All the children spoke to him with their minds, even though the elders frowned upon it. Nobody seemed actually angry about it though. Lance was considered to be something of a wonder.

He was playing with the children, when the lead elder who had been too rough when inspecting Lance's eyes before, came to him and bowed deeply. Lance stood close to him, but he stayed out of arm’s reach. The old Iptah then began muttering something that Kitsa told Lance was a blessing for long life and safe travels. Lance had felt honored and a little awkward.          

When they finally left the planet, Lance had promised to return someday. However, as he said his goodbyes to Kitsa and the others, he had a feeling that he wouldn't see them again.

Because in the end, he was still fighting a war and it would be better if the Iptah were never dragged into it.

"I never told you," Hunk said when the ship was under way again. "They wouldn't listen to us at all at first. One of them even threw a rock at Coran. But then Pidge, Pidge yelled at them and told them it was about the evil eye. They listened after that."

"Did you really call it that, Pidge?" Lance was smiling broadly at his friend.

"Well, they didn't seem to understand 'parasite.' Apparently, they actually call it blood eyes, but it was close enough that they figured out what we meant."

Lance grinned. "Thanks, Pidge. I'm glad you got them to listen."

"Yeah, me too.” Pidge was happy to help a sick child, but she had mostly acted because she knew that if they had been unable to help Kotan, Lance would never have forgiven himself. That wasn’t something that she could bear to see.

* * *

 

"Close your eyes."

"They're closed."

"I don't know, I think you might try to peek."

"Hunk, they're closed!"

"Okay, okay... Open them... Now!"

Lance blinked and looked around. Through the bridge’s view screens, Lance saw the planet that lay before them in space.

It was mostly covered in sparkling blue water and it was covered in long pieces of land.

"Thousands of gorgeous beaches," Hunk said with a huge grin.

"Really? We have time for a beach day?" Lance looked about hopefully at his teammates.

"As long as you still want to. You told me the other day that you wanted to try swimming again,” Hunk still looked a little concerned. Lance had been a bit edgy around water since the parasite incident, but after some time, he was beginning to feel comfortable again.

"Yeah, I want to!"

"Happy birthday, Lance." Shiro said, smiling and clapping his hand on Lance's shoulder. The others all chimed in with their own birthday wishes and Lance smiled so brightly that he lit up the room.

“Thank you, this is the best present!”

“Hunk made a cake too,” Pidge said with a grin. “He actually made something close to chocolate. It’s really good.”

“You made a cake? That’s awesome, thank you!”

“Yeah, but I still need to finish icing it. So beach first and then birthday feast!”

"Yeah, let's go!" Lance ran from the room with the others close behind him. Shiro laughed. The break had been needed. Especially for Lance, who hadn’t seemed to be completely back to himself yet. Shiro was so glad that they had been able to arrange this for him.

Later, as Lance ran to the waves in his swimming trunks, laughing and shouting, Shiro felt a peace that they had been missing around the castleship lately. Allura and Coran were walking along the beach, enjoying watching the paladins play in the waves.  

"What's that on your arm?" Keith asked. There was a string with beads threaded through it, tied around Lance's wrist.

"Kitsa made it for me," Lance explained quickly. "She said it could ward off anything bad, like _la lechuza_."

" _La... lechuza_?"

"It's like a witch, Keith,” Hunk explained. “An owl witch."

“Not this again," Pidge groaned.

" _Lechuza_ is real, Pidge! My uncle saw her!"

Shiro smiled as he watched his team start a lively splashing contest.

They were young and kind of ridiculous sometimes, but they were all brave and so, so good.

Lance laughed and dove into the waves. He emerged and attempted to dunk Keith into the water. Keith spluttered and quickly tried to retaliate, but Lance was already swimming away, focusing on splashing Pidge next.

They were going to keep having hard times, but this day was a good one.   

“Shiro! Come on!” Lance shouted. Shiro grinned and ran to the water to join them.

Shiro would do everything he could to protect them, even if it meant stopping for a needed beach day.   

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, happy early birthday to Lance!
> 
> This took so long to write. I hope you enjoyed it and that it all made sense. I'm a bit too tired to tell anymore. 
> 
> I also just wanted to say that I am still a little scared of La Llorona. Even though I am an adult. I will not walk by a river at night. I think I included most of the stories I grew up with in here. I damn near got the chupacabra in there at one point. 
> 
> Leave me a comment! I read them all the time.


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